Item 26 Staff Report Discuss Concept of Wireless TechnologyDATE:
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SUBJECT:
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MEETING DATE: 08-04-03
ITEM NO.
COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
JULY 31, 2003
MAYOR AND TOWN COUNCIL
DEBRA J. FIGONE, TOWN MANAGER
DISCUSS CONCEPT OF WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY
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Council Member Glickman has requested that an item be placed on the Council agenda to discuss
the concept of wireless technology. Attached is a fact sheet prepared by staff to provide background
on "WiFi," a specific type of wireless technology gaining interest in the commercial and public
sectors.
Attachment: Fact Sheet on "WiFi"
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PREPARED BY: Pamela S. Jacobs
Assistant Town Manager
Reviewed by: Assistant Town Manager kV/Attorney Clerk Finance
Community Development Revised: 7/25/03 5:20 pm
Reformatted: 5/30/01
FACT SHEET ON "WiFi"
What is "WiFi"?
"WiFi," short for "wireless fidelity," is a global wireless networking standard
that enables users with WiFi-equipped laptops to connect to the Internet at
high speeds without wires. Wireless Local Area Networks (LANs) using this
standard have a typical range of 100 to 500 feet and allow high speed
Internet access that is more than 100 times faster than a typical dial -up
modem connection. The WiFi standard is also known as "802.11 b,"
"802.11 g," and "802.11 a."
Who's Doing It?
WiFi "hot spots" are appearing in commercial and public spaces, as well as in
homes and private offices. A "hot spot" is a location where high-speed WiFi
Internet access is available.
■ Home and private office networks — Private WiFi networks are being
deployed in homes and offices to take advantage of high speed
Internet access without the installation of wires.
■ Commercial sector — Commercial hot spots are appearing in locations
such as cafes, airports, hotels, book stores, and office building lobbies
where users can connect to WiFi networks for a fee. Fees vary from
single use fees to monthly subscriptions, and most often time limits are
imposed. Starbucks, McDonald's and Borders are a few of the
national chains that are installing WiFi networks. In Los Gatos, Le
Boulangerie, Great Bear Coffee, Borders, and the Los Gatos Roasting
Company have WiFi available for a fee. The Garden Inn is also
exploring the use of WiFi.
The commercial sector may also deploy hot spots for free as an
amenity for their customers.
■ Public sector — Some communities are establishing free hot spots for
public use, generally as a public amenity. The City of Long Beach has
a hot spot in the downtown and at the Long Beach Municipal Airport.
Long Beach is partnering with the private sector in providing this
service. New York City, Ashland, Oregon, and Athens, Georgia are
other cities that are experimenting with the technology for public
spaces. Ashland has a city -owned fiber network, which they
encourage local businesses to tap into to provide WiFi access for a fee
and are hoping to use to provide free wireless access in public places.
Increasingly, libraries are providing wireless connections for their
patrons. The Cities of Palo Alto and Menlo Park both offer WiFi
connectivity to the public at their libraries. Several other cities and
county libraries are looking into adding this service to the public in the
future. The City of San Jose Main (new) Library is piloting WiFi with
several vendors, and will have WiFi operational in the near future.
What Does WiFi Require?
• Access Points: These are the small transmitters that are scattered
about a "hot spot" often abbreviated as "AP's." They are about half the
size of a laptop computer. In order to make one coffee shop a "hot
spot" one AP would be needed, usually mounted high on a wall inside
the shop. Each AP can have a variety of antennas which cover an
area of 100 to 500 feet. These "omni-directional" antennas blast their
signal out in a circular pattern, and are very small, like an old car
phone antenna or even smaller. Larger antennas with more power can
increase the radius of the AP's signal. Arranging several AP's in a grid
can cover a downtown area depending on topography including trees
and buildings. In Los Gatos, these antennas placed externally are
considered "micro -cell" devices under the Town's telecommunications
ordinance and require an administrative permit. The placement of
these antennas are reviewed for aesthetic impact.
• Network Backbone: Usually these AP's are connected to a more
typical network which is connected to the internet. Common ways to
accomplish this are:
o connect each AP via fiber optics to a central network, or
o connect each AP via a special "directional" antenna aimed in a
very specific direction to connect only to the central network, or
o use a combination of the above methods.
• Security / Firewalls / Proxy Servers: Even though wireless
networks are generally set up to be separate from any existing
corporate network, some level of security is still necessary. It is
recommended that some level of control be established in order to be
a good internet citizen. Also internet service providers (ISPs) may
deactivate the internet account if they notice certain types of abuse.
Levels of security control can include:
o common firewalls
o content control devices, if filtering of subject material such as
pornography is desired
o service control devices, such as automatic packet -level traffic
shaping and flow control, which can automatically stop users
from performing certain abuse such as spreading viruses, using
an email server to spread mass email, or other purposes as
determined by policy.
o proxy services which force users to login or pay before using the
wireless network, or force a certain "portal" site.
■ Internet Connection: An internet service provider (ISP) must be
contracted to provide a connection to the internet. A "DSL," Cable, or
T1 connection to the internet, kept totally separate from the existing
corporate "local area network" (LAN) is recommended. Different levels
and speeds of connections are available.
■ Staff Time: Staff time (internal and/or external) is required to design,
implement, and maintain a WiFi network.
• Maintenance: Ongoing maintenance would include upgrades to
hardware and software, monitoring for abuse, configuration fine-tuning,
and assisting users with problems.
• User Equipment: Each user wanting to connect to a WiFi network
needs to own a WiFi compatible device. Such devices include
Notebook PCs, Desktop PCs, and PDAs equipped with WiFi network
cards. Users who own notebook computers without the card can
purchase WiFi "PC Cards" (the size of a thick credit card) which plug
into a PC Card slot, for under $100. Several PDAs, such as the "Palm
Tungsten" and several notebook PCs come with the WiFi card built in.
In this case the card is not visible, and will already exist in the device.
The user may be required to make small configuration changes on
their device to connect to a specific WiFi network. For example, some
vendors require the user to type in the network name on a
configuration menu before the device will communicate with the WiFi
network.
■ Capital and ongoing costs: Below is an approximate estimate of
costs that could be necessary to implement a WiFi network:
o Access Points with antennas: These can range in price from
$100 to $10,000 each, depending on the quality of the product
and the strength of the antennas.
o Backbone Network
• Fiber: The cost of a fiber backbone is approximately $17
sq. ft. , including trenching, conduit, fiber, and pull boxes.
• Directional WiFi: $1,000 to $10,000 each.
o Security: Several options exist with varying levels of expense
and security. From zero cost for no security, up to tens of
thousands for capital costs, and tens of thousands annual
licensing, support, and monitoring service.
o Internet Access: Depending on the number of connections to
support and the speed provided for uploads and downloads,
internet access could cost from $70 per month to $400 per
month.
o Staff time and maintenance: The cost of internal or external
staff time to design, install and maintain a WiFi network
depends on the scope and quality of the network utilized.
Town of Los Gatos Efforts
■ Current Capability: Currently, the Town maintains two WiFi access
points at Town Hall to allow Town laptops access to the Town network.
These access points only allow devices listed in their security table to
connect to the network. Once connected, users can login and perform
any work that they could on a town desktop PC. One example of this use
is the Clerk's laptop, which is wirelessly connected to the Town's network
during council meetings, archiving the meeting's audio/sound digital file to
a Town network server.
■ PD Mobile Computers: The Police Department is implementing "Mobile
Data Computers" (MDCs) currently. Several options were available to
have these MDCs connected to the dispatch center while the units drive
through Town. Options range from slow cellular based connections to
high-speed WiFi. The MDCs currently have no connection to dispatch, but
staff is leaning toward implementing a Wi-Fi network for this MDC
communication. Costs for this implementation will come from existing
grant funding. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has to approve the
security of this type of communications. Since it is imperative that MDC
communications be secure, the Police Wi-Fi network will be stand-alone,
encrypted, and each MDC will connect to Town Hall via a Virtual Private
Network (VPN) for further protection. MDCs are scheduled for wireless
connection before the end of the year. Antennas installed for public safety
systems are exempt from the Town's telecommunications ordinance.
Issues to Consider
Issues to consider regarding the use of WiFi technology include:
• Costs — As noted above, WiFi technology has both one-time and
ongoing costs associated with design, implementation and
maintenance.
• Demand/usage — As WiFi is a new technology, demand for it is not yet
widespread or documented. Mixed reviews by customers in
commercial settings has appeared in the press, with some customers
expressing interest in using it and others reporting they are not
interested in paying for WiFi in these settings. Some businesses are
also reporting satisfaction with the fact that WiFi draws customers, and
others complain that customers are staying too long and doing actual
business from their tables. An individual user may also take up
significant portions of available bandwidth conducting high volume
activities, which slows down access for other users. The City of Long
Beach reports that their downtown WiFi is not getting much usage,
although their airport location is since business travelers typically have
their laptops with them.
■ Role of public sector -- The role of the public sector with regard to
WiFi can range from letting the private sector drive the speed of
deployment to encouraging private sector development of large WiFi
coverage areas using public facilities such as light poles and public
buildings to public investment in a publicly -owned system.
Considerations in determining the appropriate role include assessment
of the technology itself (as noted in the following bullet), demand for
the service, costs/benefits of providing the service, competing priorities
for public resources, and the potential perception of competition with
the private sector.
■ Technology Issues — Technology continues to evolve, with fiber being
the leading technology up to this point and wireless technology gaining
momentum. Wireless technology itself is advancing, with greater
speeds and reliability available as time progresses. Decisions about
investments in technology must always take into account this
advancing nature, which may make certain technologies obsolete, or at
least not desirable, over time.
Other technology issues include the lack of unified roaming capability
in WiFi that limits the use of WiFi across hot spots and the complexity
of getting connected to different accounts used by different hot spot
operators.
■ Security — WiFi networks are generally set up to be separate from any
existing corporate network; however, security issues may still surface.
Abuse such as spreading viruses and using an e-mail server to spread
mass e-mail may occur and need to be prevented.
Town Council Minutes August 4, 2003
Redevelopment Agency Los Gatos, California
WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY/COUNCIL DISCUSSION (26.28)
Mr. Glickman presented background information to Council concerning WiFi technology in the
commercial and public sectors. He spoke of the opportunity for the Town to both serve its residents and
also enhance its reputation by getting out in front of the implementation. Our residents may begin to
rely on this technology and it would be nice to be ready for their requests. He asked that a group be put
together with knowledge and interest in this subject, and that the Chamber of Commerce, real estate
community and those with technical expertise form an advisory group.
Pamela Jacobs, Assistant Town Manager, gave an overview of this technology and its initial growth
in our Town at this time. She noted that Chris Gjerde, IT Manager, helped put tonight's report together
for Council. She spoke of WiFi as a global service. The wireless network connector which enables one
to link computers, notebooks and PDAs within local areas to the interne without the use of wires.
There are already businesses in Los Gatos offering WiFi to their patrons such as Le Boulangie, the Great
Bear, the Los Gatos Roasting Company and Borders. Municipalities are now offering central locations
for their communities and libraries appear to be a popular location to make use of this service.
The following people from the audience spoke to the issue:
Michael Gordon, asked that Council support the use and implementation of WiFi throughout the
Town's business community and ensure a program for our municipality as a whole.
Amir Mortazavi, spoke of developing technology and the ability of the Santa Clara County Library
system to link their wireless capabilities and the possibility of our library to benefit from that project.
Daniel Skilken, with Landmark Networks, a local business working with wireless technology, spoke
of the ability to place wireless in our downtown which would be an attraction for our local businesses.
He spoke of wireless in our parks and using the wireless for security purposes for police surveillance
in needed areas. He offered his business services and equipment at cost to the Town and community,
to help establish a WiFi hot zone that will attract business to the downtown area.
Council accepted report and asked that staff continue to keep them abreast of developing technology,
and asked that the business community take the lead in advancing this technology in the Town and keep
the Town apprised.
MANAGER MATTERS (22.28)
The Manager did not give a report this evening.
ADJOURNMENT
Mayor Decker closed this evening's meeting at 12:32 a.m.
N:1Clk\Marian's Files\DraH Minutes\MM080403
ATTEST:
Marian V. Cosgrove
Town Clerk
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